Daniel Prophet and Man of God

Daniel - perspective

What makes the Book of Daniel most profitable for some makes it most problematic for others. Daniel is one of the great Old Testament prophets, and these prophecies have a great deal to say about things yet to come.

For the Bible-believing Christian this puts Daniel on the “must read” list. For the unbelieving skeptic, it puts the message and meaning of this great book on the “hit list.” Much that is written about Daniel, then, is written from a critical perspective.

Daniel is profitable for the Christian because it describes life in Babylon during the dark days of the captivity of the Jews, in fulfillment of the prophecies God had given this wayward people. Finally, Daniel is a most profitable book because it describes the life of a very godly man, living in an ungodly world. Only about half of the Book of Daniel is prophetic; the rest is history.

In the historical chapters of Daniel we find familiar stories, of Daniel in the lion’s den, and Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace. These exciting stories provide models for all of us as to how we should live in an ungodly world, until that time when the Lord fulfills His prophetic promises and returns to the earth to establish His kingdom.

DANIEL THE PROPHET

.

WHO WAS DANIEL?

Most Jewish Rabbi’s think of him as a great Jewish man - who held fast to their heritage and religion in spite of the pagan influence around him. They hold this book as fictional today, but before Jesus, the Talmud and the Midrash state they believe it is authentic!

Most Christians remember him as a man of courage and faithfulness who was thrown into the lions den because he continued to pray openly even when the penalty for doing so was death.

The most important and authoritative view of Daniel comes from Jesus - He calls Daniel a prophet (Math. 24:15, Mark 13:14). Above this, Jesus places foremost importance on the writings of Daniel. He specifically asks His disciples to understand his prophecies (Luke 19), and states that in Daniel the key to all end time prophecy can be found!

A MAN OF INTEGRITY

No matter who you ask, all agree the Daniel of the Bible was a man of character and integrity. Throughout his life he was and still is an example of uncompromising faithfulness to God.

Through studying Daniel’s life and the lives of every other great man of God in the Bible and in history, you will find that they all share three qualities.

1. Discipline - they were all men of prayer. They made their daily devotions a top priority in their life and they had fellowship with God all day.

2. Devotion - they were men who sought to please God rather than men. They were more concerned about God’s kingdom than their own desires.

3. Determination - they were men who determined in their hearts to not be defiled by the world - they raised up a Godly standard where they lived, worked, traveled, and relaxed. No compromise.

THE BOOK OF DANIEL

The Book of Daniel was written during the time of the EXILE (Between 606BC & 537 BC). As with all other books written by prophets, it’s name is simply the name of the author.

1. Timeline: during this sixth century B.C., construction on the Acropolis in Athens begins; Mayan civilization was flourishing in Mexico; Aesop wrote his fables; Confucius and Buddah live; Greek art comes into its own; the Phoenicians make the first known sea journey around Africa; the olive tree is introduced to Italy by Greeks.

Daniel is can be broken down into to sections. the History of Daniel, chapters 1-6; and the prophecies, chapters 7-12. There is one other way to divide the book, and this is according to the language in which Daniel wrote the book. Ch. 1:1 - 2:4a is in Hebrew, Ch. 2:4b - 7:28 is in Aramaic, and Ch. 8:1 - 12:13 is in Hebrew again.

The book of Daniel is one of the most important prophetic books in the Bible - as Jesus asks us to understand the book and it’s influence on eschatology. Daniel paves the way for our beliefs on angels, the resurrection of both the children of God and non-believers (12:2), and end times events from activities of the anti-Christ, the tribulation, and the second coming of Jesus.

The Bible Societies Greek New Testament lists 133 quotations from the Book of Daniel. They count phraseology along with direct quotes to get this number. The influence of Daniel on the New Testament further declares the importance of the Book.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE STUDYING DANIEL

1. Jesus asks us to understand this Book, so as we go through it the Holy Spirit will lead us to the significance of it’s contents.

2. As with all prophecy, we must separate those pertaining to the Church and those pertaining to Israel.

3. Some prophecy has a partial fulfillment in history (as a prophetic model) but the focus of the prophecy is events yet to come.

An example of this is the ‘Abomination of Desolation’ of Dan.11:31 & 12:11). This prophecy was fulfilled in 167 BC, yet Jesus states this will occur again in the last days (Mk. 13:14,19; Luke 21:24). Implicating that the Book of Daniel points to the events taking place at the end of the world as we know it. Daniel is the ‘father’ of eschatology.

Daniel’s story, much of it told in the first person, reads like the success story of Joseph in Egypt, or a modern story in the western world. After his special education to serve in the king’s palace, he rose from one promotion to another until, because of his many years of faithfulness, he had won the high office of ruler over the province of Babylon and head over its wise men.

In this office, he was honored with the distinction of serving two great Empires - the Babylonian Empire until its fall in 538 B.C., and then the Empire of the Medes and Persians. The story makes it clear that only by the grace of God was he able to remain uncompromisingly faithful to his religion and to himself as a Jewish exile, even when he was face to face with death.

Three other young Jewish exiles - Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are associated with Daniel in his trials and successes, although they play supporting roles in this court drama.

The book of Daniel was written by Daniel between the third year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, about 606 B.C. (1:1) and the first year of Cyrus, about 536 B.C. (1:21). Most likely near the end of his Ministry.

It is written partly in the third person, and partly in the first, with extensive quotations as if the prophet were quoting himself.

This early dating of the book of Daniel has been maintained successfully by conservative scholars against the massed onslaught of liberalism. Porphyry, a heretic in the 3^rd Century AD., declared the book of Daniel was a forgery, written during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees (170 B.C.) - almost 400 years after Daniel had lived.

However, the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament which was written prior to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (started 285bc) contains the book of Daniel. And the historian Josephus records an incident during the time of Alexander the Great, which supports the early authorship. Also Daniel’s contemporary, Ezekiel, who was with the captives, made reference to the character of Daniel (Ezekiel 14:14,20), and to his office as prophet (Ezekiel 28:3), which is conclusive evidence against the theory that this book belongs to Maccabean period.

Finally, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of Daniel “the prophet” (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14). His endorsement is valid and sufficient for every believer whether or not he has examined the argument of the critics.

Daniel is the prophet of “the times of the Gentiles.” The major portion of his prophecies was directly concerned with the Gentile nations. The notable exception is Daniel 9 which concerns the 70 weeks, but here the emphasis is upon the interval after the cutting off of the Messiah between the 69^th and 70^th weeks. It is during this period that the city and sanctuary are destroyed, and the “times of the Gentiles” is identified as the time when “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles.

The message of Daniel is loud and clear: God presides over the history of the world. Gentile nations as well as the Jews have always been under His control and the succession of human empires is ordained by Him; He permits the pride and fury of oppressors for a time, but humbles them in the end and saves His own. God’s kingdom will come at length and will endure forever and faithfulness and constancy to Him lead to a of reward and glory.

In short, the book teaches that God Himself is the sovereign ruler and will determine the destinies of both Babylonians and all gentile nations and the Jews, as outlined in the visions of His servant Daniel.

DOUBTS RAISED BY SOME MEN CONCERNING DANIEL

We accept the fact that Daniel wrote this book between 606bc & 537 bc. This fact has come under criticism by several scholars - the primary evidence they give is:

1. The use of Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic in the text.

2. The position of the book in the Jewish O.T. ( writings not prophecy ).

3. The theological ideas of the book are too advanced for 537 BC

4. Daniel could not have predicted events with such accuracy.

They feel the book was written around 165 BC and that it is part of the books known as the ‘Apocrypha’.

OUR RESPONSE

The response to these critics has grown in strength as Archeological evidence unfolds and supports the writing of Daniel when the Author claims - 537.

1. As mentioned earlier in the study, recent linguistic analysis confirms the fact that the language used is of the 6^th century bc. Also, most Hebrew men of that day knew Aramaic as it was the language of trade in those days.

2. The book is placed in the writings instead of the prophets of their (the Jewish) canon probably because of two reasons.

A. Since Daniel never spoke or wrote “thus says the Lord”, Jewish tradition does not give him the official office of Prophet. (note that in the gift of the Holy Spirit that one who dreams dreams and has visions has a separate gift than one who has the gift (office) of prophecy.

B. Some scholars feel that Daniel was put into the canon late because they wouldn’t consider the book true until the prophecy was fulfilled (which happened at the Maccabaean success). Thus they put the book in the writings. Answering objections 3&4 is easy - God inspired Daniel to write this book so the theological and eschatological ideas could be as advanced as God wanted them to be - this in no way should bring any doubt to the book.

God works supernaturally in this world and has the ability to give a man a look into the future with complete accuracy and clarity.

“What do you expect to gain from a study of the Book of Daniel?” There are a number of critical “scholars” who expect to learn no more from the Book of Daniel than I expected to learn from that education class. Due to the criticism leveled against the Book of Daniel, we will begin by surveying some of the criticisms of this book and some responses to these criticisms.

An important goal of this SESSION is to identify some values of the study of Daniel. Another is to provide an overview of the book as a whole and point out some of its unique characteristics and contributions. Finally, we will attempt to lay the groundwork for further study by considering the setting and historical background of Daniel in order to understand it in the light of the time it was written.